prior
1preceding in time or in order; earlier or former; previous: A prior agreement prevents me from accepting this.
preceding in importance or privilege.
Informal. a prior conviction.
Idioms about prior
prior to, preceding; before: Prior to that time, buffalo had roamed the Great Plains in tremendous numbers.
Origin of prior
1Other words for prior
Other words from prior
- pri·or·ly, adverb
Other definitions for prior (2 of 3)
an officer in a monastic order or religious house, sometimes next in rank below an abbot.
a chief magistrate, as in the medieval republic of Florence.
Origin of prior
2Other words from prior
- pri·or·ship, noun
- sub·pri·or·ship, noun
Other definitions for Prior (3 of 3)
Matthew, 1664–1721, English poet.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use prior in a sentence
Your mileage may vary, depending on your ideological priors.
The Real Reasons New York has the Country’s Most Segregated Schools | Conor P. Williams | March 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWe should all be revising our priors about how much health insurance--or at least Medicaid--really promotes health.
Study: Giving People Government Health Insurance May Not Make them Any Healthier | Megan McArdle | May 1, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBecause models of paternity uncertainty are important priors in shaping our view of the course of human evolutionary history.
Don't Worry, Dads: Those Kids are Probably Yours | Megan McArdle | February 7, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThey didn't do this crime, but there are the three same priors lingering in the air.
Should Prosecutors Pay the Defense Costs of Anyone Who Secures a "Not Guilty" Verdict? | Megan McArdle | January 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThey are considered, I believe, to be memorials of the priors of Anglesey, a neighbouring religious house.
Albatrosses followed in our wake, accompanied by their smaller satellites—Cape hens, priors, Lesson's and Wilson petrels.
The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas MawsonThus the monastery grew through successive priors, till it was one of the largest religious houses in London.
Highways and Byways in London | Mrs. E. T. Cook.The two Franciscan stalwarts remained in the Priors' chapel.
The Story of Florence | Edmund G. GardnerThe Priors folk will then go apart and judge the accused, a few of the hundredors going with them to act as assessors.
Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland
British Dictionary definitions for prior (1 of 3)
/ (ˈpraɪə) /
(prenominal) previous; preceding
prior to before; until
statistics a prior probability
Origin of prior
1British Dictionary definitions for prior (2 of 3)
/ (ˈpraɪə) /
the superior of a house and community in certain religious orders
the deputy head of a monastery or abbey, ranking immediately below the abbot
(formerly) a chief magistrate in medieval Florence and other Italian republics
Origin of prior
2British Dictionary definitions for Prior (3 of 3)
/ (ˈpraɪə) /
Matthew. 1664–1721, English poet and diplomat, noted for his epigrammatic occasional verse
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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